No sound on TV when connected to laptop

Hi everybody - 1st time posting on here and i'm not the best on the techinical side of a PC so be easy with me!

I need some help. I connected my laptop to my TV using a VGA cable and although i have no problem with the picture i can't use the volume control on the tv - the sound still comes from the laptop. How do i change it so i can use the tv's bigger speakers?
Also is it possible just to connect the tv and laptop using a HDMI cable and get the sound that way as both have HDMI ports?
I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium on a Samsung R530 laptop and the tv is a Panasonic Viera.
Thanks in advance!

Dave

In order to transfer the sound along with the video you need to use the HDMI cable. The VGA and DVI only transfer video. Only the HDMI cable transfers video and sound.